Five Players to Watch: Arnold Palmer Invitational

Jason Day and Rory McIlroy should both find themselves in contention at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. (Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports/Reuters. Picture Supplied by Action Images.)

The PGA Tour’s Florida swing has rolled into Orlando this week for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and Mr. Palmer himself already has shown up on the practice tee to take a look at the pre-tournament work being done by various players. (Read Ron Green Jr.’s touching tribute to The King)

The countdown is on for The Masters but this is a big week because it’s Palmer’s event and because the field is an impressive one. Here are our five players to watch at Bay Hill:

5. Matt Every: Hey, he’s won this event two years in a row, so what if he hasn’t done much of anything since last March? It was 2013 the last time anyone beat him in this event.

4. Jason Day: He has had a very quiet start to 2016 but Day doesn’t figure to stay quiet for long. With Magnolia Lane beckoning in the near future, he’s due to sharpen the edges on his game soon.

3. Ryan Moore: He’s shown some flashes of good play and when he’s on, he’s capable of winning anywhere. Maybe his third-place finish at the Valspar Championship last week was just the springboard he needs.

2. Rory McIlroy: He keeps sniffing around the top of the leaderboard but Rors hasn’t been able to put four rounds together. He’s had the Sunday lead in a couple of recent Tour stops, including at Doral two weeks ago, so he’s close to breaking through.

1. Adam Scott: After the way he’s played in his past three starts – T2, win, win – there’s no reason to think he can’t keep it going for another few weeks. That’s his stated goal, anyway. For a guy who once had the rep as a poor closer and a shaky putter, he looks like solid gold these days.